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Physicists Propose "New Force Carrier"

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 17 2016, @07:53AM   
from the that's-a-lot-of-math dept.

butthurt writes:

A University of California Irvine press release promotes research into the decay of an isomer of the short-lived radioisotope beryllium-8.

Noting that

a 6.8σ anomaly has been reported in the opening angle and invariant mass distributions of e⁺ e^- pairs produced in ⁸Be nuclear transitions,

physicists propose "a 17 MeV protophobic gauge boson" (for comparison, an electron's mass is 0.51 MeV) to explain the observations, saying that the particle's existence could also account for a "discrepancy in the muon anomalous magnetic moment." The force conveyed by the particle is believed to only affect electrons and neutrons, and only at short distances.

further information:

• Evidence for a Protophobic Fifth Force from ⁸Be Nuclear Transitions (PDF)
• Particle Physics Models for the 17 MeV Anomaly in Beryllium Nuclear Decay (PDF)

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Original Submission

• Well then. Well then. (Score: 3, Funny) by Subsentient on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:56AM

  by Subsentient (1111) on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:56AM (#389059) Homepage Journal

  I just had my brain cooked by something shorter than my resume.

  Can we have stories that a majority of the readers will understand, please?

  --
  "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti

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• Re:Well then. (Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:30AM

  by butthurt (6141) on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:30AM (#389063) Journal

  Sorry for the unexplained jargon. The story is about a hitherto unknown short-range force among electrons and neutrons. I meant to link the phrase "press release" in the first sentence; try the first link if you haven't.

  Parent

• Re:Well then. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @06:05PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @06:05PM (#389220)

  It's better than the SJW diversity and global warming fare.

  Parent

• Re:Well then. (Score: 2) by quixote on Thursday August 18 2016, @03:26AM

  by quixote (4355) on Thursday August 18 2016, @03:26AM (#389467)

  Nonsense. It's good for the brain to do stretching exercises. I like it. Keep the wonderful weirdness coming.

  Parent

• Re:Well then. (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:29AM

  by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:29AM (#389515) Journal

  No, please keep publishing stories beyond common knowledge. How else will we get in touch with new exciting topics?

  --
  Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum

  Parent